Phytopathogenic oomycetes: a review focusing onPhytophthora cinnamomiand biotechnological approaches

ThePhytophthoragenus is composed, mainly, of plant pathogens. This genus belongs to the Oomycete class, also known as pseudo-fungi, within the Chromista Kingdom.Phytophthoraspp. is highlighted due to the significant plant diseases that they cause, which represents some of the most economically and cultural losses, such as European chestnut ink disease, which is caused byP. cinnamomi.Currently, there have been four genome assemblies placed at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), although the progress to understand and elucidate the pathogenic process ofP. cinnamomiby its genome is progressing slowly. In this review paper, we aim to report and discuss the recent findings related toP. cinnamomiand its genomic information. Our research is based on paper databases that reported probable functions toP. cinnamomiproteins using sequence alignments, bioinformatics, and biotechnology approaches. Some of these proteins studied have functions that are proposed to be involved in the asexual sporulation and zoosporogenesis leading to the host colonization and consequently associated with pathogenicity. Some remarkable genes and proteins discussed here are related to oospore development, inhibition of sporangium formation and cleavage, inhibition of flagellar assembly, blockage of cyst germination and hyphal extension, and biofilm proteins. Lastly, we report some biotechnological approaches using biological control, studies with genome sequencing ofP. cinnamomiresistant plants, and gene silencing through RNA interference (iRNA).